Ithuba pledges R2 million to Banyana Banyana ahead of World Cup
National Lottery operator Ithuba has pledged a further R2 million to the Banyana Banyana players ahead of the FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The pledge came amid a payment dispute between the national women’s football team and the South African Football Association (SAFA) over the past four days.
The Motsepe Foundation, founded by Confederation of African Football (CAF) president and billionaire Patrice Motsepe and his wife Precious Motsepe, pledged funds to resolve the dispute.
Squad members had said their contracts did not include the $30,000 appearance fee promised by FIFA to each of the 23 players.
The spat caused a renewed conversation around gender pay gaps in sports in the country.
Speaking at a press conference in Sandton on Wednesday, Ithuba’s Michelle van Trotsenburg said the operator supports equal pay for women.
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"We are a female-led company, so it's an honour for us to pledge that we will be pledging R2 million toward Banyana Banyana. We are very much behind supporting women in sports and equal pay in sports."
Concerns have been raised over SAFA’s bonus structure, favouring the men's national team instead of the women's football team.
But SAFA president Danny Jordaan said the pay gap is not unique to South Africa.
"And one of the things that is a global issue is the gap between men and women. And even as we go to this World Cup, the pool for men players was over $400 million. For this World Cup, it was $100 million. So you can see the massive gap and in spite of FIFA's commitment to pay parity between women players and men players."
Sports Minister Zizi Kodwa called on corporate South Africa to rally behind Banyana Banyana.
"The reason, among others, you don't have a repeat of what has happened in men's football is because you have this massive sponsorship from corporate citizens. This is the kind of patriarchy that rests and resides in corporate South Africa. in which case we must present their case to say they too deserve what Bafana Bafana deserve, what Springboks deserve, what other national teams deserve."
